The invention relates to a folding wheelbarrow for light duty use in homeowner's yards and gardens, and for heavy duty use on building sites.
There are many patents disclosing folding wheelbarrows, but to the inventor's knowledge, none of these has been successfully commercially exploited for any length of time. Folding wheelbarrows as shown in the patents can be classified into two main classes, namely those with essentially rigid panel containers, and those with flexible fabric containers. Wheelbarrows having rigid panel containers usually comprise a plurality of essentially rigid sheet panels which are interconnected along edges to form a container mounted on a folding wheelbarrow frame. The rigid panels cannot be folded into a small space similarly to the frame and thus, when folded, occupy considerable space and thus do not provide a compact folding wheelbarrow. Examples of patents relating to folding wheelbarrows with rigid panel containers include U.S. Pat. No. 520,914 (Garver); U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,760 (Sine) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,904 (Puckett).
Folding wheelbarrows with flexible fabric containers are usually characterized by a relatively simple lightweight frame, from which a fabric container is suspended. The fabric container has an upper rim which is connected to the frame and thus, for a frame of normal height, volume of the container is limited because walls of the container do not extend upwardly above the frame. The resulting low volume of such wheelbarrows tend to limit their use to relatively light duty applications. Also, usually lower portions of the fabric containers are not connected elsewhere to the frame, and thus the containers are free to swing sideways, particularly when traversing uneven ground or sloping surfaces. Such swinging increases difficulty of controlling the wheelbarrow, particularly when carrying heavy loads. Thus, prior art wheelbarrows with flexible fabric containers would not be appropriate for heavy garden use or industrial applications. Examples of this type of wheelbarrow are found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,494,199 (Probitola et al); U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,511 (Frank) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,22,757 (Magyar).
In contrast with wheelbarrows having flexible containers, wheelbarrows having containers made of essentially rigid panels can have a larger volume similar to conventional non-folding wheelbarrows because upper portions of the panels can extend upwardly above the frame. Also, the rigid panels contribute to rigidity of the container which usually has lower portions securely attached to the frame to reduce relative movement. Thus, such wheelbarrows are generally more suitable for heavy duty use than those with flexible fabric containers, but as previously stated, containers made from rigid panels cannot be folded into a small space due to the relatively large size of the rigid panels. In addition, cost of producing a wheelbarrow with a container made of rigid panels tends to be relatively high compared with costs of manufacturing a folding wheelbarrow with a container of flexible fabric.
While some of the wheelbarrows with flexible containers might be appropriate for light duty use, none of this type of wheelbarrow known to the inventor has a "kicker" or wheel support which extends forwardly around the wheel and is useful for quickly dumping a load from a wheelbarrow. To use a kicker, the wheelbarrow is tilted forwardly by rocking the wheelbarrow until the kicker engages the ground and carries the weight of the wheelbarrow. Without a kicker or a temporary support of some kind, it is difficult or essentially impossible to dump a wheelbarrow by tilting the container forwardly over the wheel.
Also, many wheelbarrows, either non-folding or folding, have two legs which are laterally spaced apart at a distance less than width of the container, which can be termed a "narrow stance". Wheelbarrows with a narrow stance have a tendency to be unstable when supported on uneven ground, as an unevenly loaded container could generate an out of balance force which could tip or roll over the wheelbarrow.
Other folding, wheeled vehicles have been devised for specific applications, for example U.S. Pat. No. 913,487 (Fleischmann) discloses a folding baby carriage. The baby is supported on a hammock-type sling which is slung between front and rear portions of the carriage, with only light supports on side portions, and essentially no walls extending above base of the hammock. While such a carriage is possibly suitable for carrying infants, it has essentially no volume or capacity for gardening or utilitarian uses.